Greenburgh Public Library Blog

GPL Librarian Chooses Second Location for Best Places to Read in Greenburgh

Happy Summertime to Everyone!  A reminder to all adults that summer reading fun is not just for kids! 

 The Greenburgh Public Library's  Adult Summer Reading Challenge starts on June 27th.  Read 5 books -fill out a form at the library or online and enter into a raffle to win a gift certificate to Frankie and Fanucci's in Hartsdale!

Hi, I'm Nancy, one of the Librarians at the Greenburgh Public Library.  My first pick for best places to read in Greenburgh was Ridge Road Park.  As a librarian, I stay inside most of the week as the temps are hitting the 90s; envious of the crowds headed to the beach or the pool. 

I wholeheartedly believe that Summer is the best time to get outside and explore new places.  It is hard to believe that just beyond the bumper-to-bumper traffic of Central Avenue there are tranquil woods and idyllic nature scenes at Hart's Brook Preserve. Located at 156 Ridge Road, the park is less than three miles from the Greenburgh Public Library.

Harts Brook Park & Preserve is my second recommendation for Best Places to Read in Greenburgh. 

Did you know?
The 120+ acres of land that comprises Hart's Brook Park & Preserve was once owned by Henry Gaisman and his wife Catherine "Kitty" Gaisman.  Henry J. Gaisman  invented the glass-enclosed bulletin boards commonly used in hotel lobbies. He then worked briefly as a leather worker, and in 1894 moved to New York City where he sold his first financially successful invention, a belt that wouldn't slip. Later, he invented the safety razor, an invention which would allow him to develop into a wealthy businessman despite never completing his formal education.  Mr. Gaisman and his wife Kitty deeded their land in Hartsdale to the Archdiocese of New York with the premise that they would be allowed to live there as long as they needed to.  Their original intention was to donate land to Westchester County to build the new Westchester Community College.  The College subsequently  was  built on the  nearby 364 acre estate of John Hartford.  Henry died in 1974 at the age of 101.  His wife Kitty lived on the grounds until 1995.   

Today at Hart's Brook Park & Preserve: 
 A group of 25 trained Master Gardener volunteers of Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Westchester County (CCE, Westchester), plant and maintain a series of demonstration gardens. Their purpose is to show the home gardener the best ways of growing vegetables, small fruit, ornamental grasses, herbs, annual and perennial flowers and specialty flowers such as dahlias and roses.

What Makes  Hart's Brook Park & Preserve Great for Reading? 
There is on-site parking and the park is friendly to dogs on leashes.  Marian Woods, a retirement home for nuns is situated on the property.  Take one of the trails to discover a stone cabin and pond on the property.  Depending on the season,  you might get to count the number of frogs resting on lily pads. The winding trails, flora, fauna and rolling green landscape will inspire your imagination during your next visit to Hart's Brook Park & Preserve. 

My Reading Recommendations:
I had gardens on my mind when selecting the titles below.  You can reserve these books at the library for your next trip to Hart's Brook Park & Preserve this summer.  Remember you can always check out an eBook if you're interested in bringing your Kindle or iPad on the road with you.   

Lisa Jewell in The Girls in the Garden expertly builds suspense by piling up domestic misunderstandings and more plot twists than a soap opera. It’s an excellent page-turner for readers who like beach reads on the dark side.

With sassy wit, a transcendent touch, and gratifying sensuality, Amanda Quick in Garden of Lies sweeps readers into another enchanting, humor-drenched escapade that is sure to leave fans smiling and satisfied.

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah is a larger-than- life love story set in World War II Russia and an intimate portrait of contemporary mothers and daughters poised at the crossroads of their lives. It explores the heartbreak of war, the cost of survival and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

In striking prose, Alice Hoffman offers a transforming glimpse of small-town America in The Red Garden, presenting more than three hundred years of passion, dark secrets, loyalty, and redemption in a web of tales where characters' lives are intertwined by fate and by their own actions.

Jeffery Deaver, a master storyteller, tells the beastly tale of a conscience-plagued mobster turned government hit-man struggles to find his moral compass amid rampant treachery and betrayal in 1936 Berlin.

In the Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, she uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her atypical story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis.

Tell me what you think of Harts Brook Park & Preserve as one of the Best Places to Read in Greenburgh. 

Look for my next recommendation of Best Places to Read in Greenburgh on July 23.

Remember to fill out your Summer Reading form!